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Beta Features are a way for you to test new features on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites before they are released for everyone. Go to your preferences to enable Beta Features for yourself; remember, enabling features works on a per-site basis.
Please let us know what you think of this program on this discussion page.
PurposeThe primary purpose of Beta Features is to allow for Wikimedia designers and engineers (from the Wikimedia Foundation and community alike) to roll out technical improvements in an environment where large numbers of users can test, give feedback, and use these features in real-world settings. The secondary purpose of Beta Features is to provide a path so that helpful, well-designed gadgets and other community code can be integrated into core after vetting, testing, and reviewing by Wikimedia Design and Engineering.
The code to provide features like this is in an extension, BetaFeatures . Beta Features' preferences are available in a Preferences tab, accessible via the personal bar at the top of the page for all logged-in users.
FunctionalityRight now, users can:
To use either function, users should select the appropriate checkbox, then click “Save”, which will save their Beta Features preferences (like with other preferences). Every now and then new features are made available to users, as outlined at Beta Features/Roadmap .
Current Beta FeaturesHere are the current beta features which we are testing with this system:
These features are only available on some wikis:
These features are beta features on some wikis while enabled for everyone on all others:
We invite Wikimedia product teams and community volunteers who want to test out new features, or significant changes to existing features, to do so through this project.
Current features galleryEnable the new wikitext mode inside the visual editor.
⧼popups-refpreview-beta-feature-description⧽
A tool to quickly translate pages into your language with side-by-side editor.
Show the edit conflict view using a more advanced paragraph-based view.
View images in large size.
Make text more readable.
Edit pages without having to learn wiki code.
Edit algebra or equations on your pages.
Tool for marking the language in which text is written.
Uses a new algorithm for search as you type, that is tolerant to small typos.
Adds section to the sidebar for sister project links, based on Wikidata site links.
View and organize notifications more easily. Includes cross-wiki notifications, which lets you see messages from other wikis.
ORES is an AI-based tool that highlights probably damaging edits in recent changes and watchlist.
Adds a slider interface to the diff view, so that you can easily move between revisions.
Give readers a short summary of an article whenever they hover over a link to it.
Enhances Special:Search through an advanced parameters form
Show a shorter version of the language list, with just the languages that are more relevant to you.
Adds colors and shade to wikitext to make it easier to visually separate article text from the code.
Review edits on Recent Changes using new filters, user-defined highlighting and other improvements.
Allows for easy exporting of files to Wikimedia Commons.
⧼beta-feature-timedmediahandler-description-videojs⧽
Show visual diffs on history pages
Enables experimental talk page features:
Replyto talk page comments in one click and
Add new topicsusing an inline form.
This list may document extensions or features that are obsolete or dormant, or are still in planning. Do not rely on the information here being up-to-date.
A simplified site header with quick access to primary tools and a flyout for the rest.
Give more attention to the mobile skin and use it as a vehicle for accelerating change in mobile and desktop.
See what other pages are nearby.
Do you want to create your own Beta Feature? Great! James is happy to help guide you.
First, you should check that your code meets the following basic requirements:
If you're happy your code meets these requirements, you should write-up your proposal on the New Features proposal page. As part of creating the Beta Feature, you will be asked for some text copy and an image to represent your feature in the user interface; the Design and Product teams can help you with this.
AppearanceThe appearance of the “Beta features” tab in Preferences is purposefully different, to both inspire interest and propose a departure from the standard layout and complexity of the existing user preferences.
Here is a screenshot of the “Beta features” preferences tab:
Screenshot of the “Beta features” preferences screen in Vector legacy (2010). Known issuesRetroSearch is an open source project built by @garambo | Open a GitHub Issue
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